DONATING - Charity

What area of life would you like to help?
Animals (dogs, cats, endangered species)
Health (Heart, Cancer, you-name-it)
Income/housing/food (Habitat for Humanity, meals on wheels, food banks)
Specific Age groups (seniors, children, troubled teens)


I've done Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, worked with Senior Citizens, and maybe a few others I've forgotten. Pick something that appeals to you - and volunteer time if you can,.

 

I would suggest you to donate money to the disasters that occurred in past two weeks in Mynmar and China.

Yesterday, I donated $100 to Red Cross for China and I know it's not much but I'm sure every penny is worth it.

Sometimes, I would donate money to Be An Angel Fund (money for kids with physical impairments).

I heard about this organization, Casa de Esperanza de los Niños, a safe place for kids from abuse, neglect and effects of HIV. You should check it out.

Donating is a great thing.

 

I recomend donating your time -- then finding a place you believe in and following it up with money.

I donate my time/money to a Crisis Nursery for kids from 0-6 (http://www.cassd.org/index_files/TLC.htm). Those kids have just stolen my heart. One weekend I was playing with a rowdy group of three and four year olds and I picked one up in my arms -- expecting him to laugh and roll out -- but instead he snuggled in close. I held him a little tighter, then I realized that the rest of the room had grown quiet. I looked down and the rest of the kids were lined up waiting there turn -- all they wanted was someone to hold them.

 

awwwwwwww :'(

p.s. your link doesn't work

 

http://www.cassd.org/index_files/TLC.htm

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of giving. The people of the United States, for apparently being terrible and greedy, give a higher percentage of its GNP and of REAL dollars than any other country on earth.

Anyways, you want to give intellegently. One of the many factors that go into charities and other non-profits are their administrative costs. You want to give to charities that keep a low percentage for admin costs. Some have surprisingly high admin costs and administrators and executives for the non profits keep a high percentage for themselves in high salaries and benefits.

Go to http://www.charitynavigator.org/ and check out any potential charity. In most cases, you want to give to a charity with an admin cost of lower than 20% of its revenue. (usually the lower the better as more of the dollars you give actually go the the cause)

Follow up on other resources as well. Research your charity, because when you are comfortable with giving is when you develop a passion.

 

donating/giving time = donating/give money. unless you really want to help out hands on, giving money is great.

 

This isn't true. The US gives the least, in terms of percentage of GDP, out of all the 20 or so developed nations of the world. In addition, most of what the US gives goes to Israel and either Saudi Arabia or Egypt, two countries not really hurting for relief, and, at least in the case of Israel, the money is used to buy weapons.

I sponsor a kid here: http://www.cfcausa.org

EDIT: If you want to talk about the people of the US giving more than people of other developed nations, well, relatively, we hardly pay any taxes and scoff at the idea of paying more to help the poor, "it's their fault their poor".

 

I recommend -

 

The PEOPLE...not the government.

Americans set new mark for giving

NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a new record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma -- and the Asian tsunami.

Donors contributed an estimated $295.02 billion in 2006, a 1 percent increase when adjusted for inflation, up from $283.05 billion in 2005. Excluding donations for disaster relief, the total rose 3.2 percent, inflation-adjusted, according to an annual report released Monday by the Giving USA Foundation at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy.
...
The biggest chunk of the donations, $96.82 billion or 32.8 percent, went to religious organizations. The second largest slice, $40.98 billion or 13.9 percent, went to education, including gifts to colleges, universities and libraries.
...
Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7 percent. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73 percent, while France, with a 0.14 percent rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.

There is an article out there also that I've read that states 2007 even broke the record for 2006, but I can't find it right now.

With administration costs of the top charities averaging around 8-12%, they are highly more effecient in administrating help to the various causes than the government, so the argument that low taxes are the reason for more giving is actually a good thing, since those dollars find their way to those who needed easier and with more precise use.

Anyways, let's not take this awesome thread into the D&D. The bulk of my message is that you should research and use your head when giving to most effeciently make use of the dollars you want to give.

I would also like to notice that you edited when you noticed I said the people of the US, not the government. I am well aware of the US foreign aid numbers. We lead in real dollars, but lag in percentage of GNP when it comes to foriegn aid. How I feel about that...I don't know. Perhaps our economy flows more dollars into foriegn countries, so we don't need to "give" as much, but perhaps we need to give more...dunno.

 

the red cross is always the best way to go. you never know where your money is gonan go with most other charities.

 

thank you. btw, $100 is a lot. it's equal to almost 700 RMB. that should feed a family of 3 for a month.

 

Very touching and inspiring. Thank you for this.

 

heard that salvation army picks up donations like used furnitures...